McKenna, 30, died from a gunshot wound Aug. 16, 2006, in Fallujah during his second tour of duty in Iraq. He had moved to Clifton Park from Brooklyn and worked as a State Trooper. A block near his childhood home on East Second Street in New York City was already named after the Marine.

Clifton Park recently ordered the McKenna sign for its U-shaped road, and will dedicate it to the Marine at a ceremony with his mother and father, John and Karen McKenna III, who reside in Clifton Park.

“I feel honored,” Karen McKenna said by phone Monday. “I’m sure in 50 years, someone will say who was John McKenna. Our mission is that people will know who John McKenna was.”

A sniper in Iraq shot McKenna as he tried to save the life of Lance Cpl. Michael Glover, a University at Albany graduate from Queens. The platoon leader assigned to Fox Company, 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, then out of Albany, received a posthumous Silver Star for his bravery,

The sniper accused of shooting McKenna and Glover was captured Sept. 29, 2006, in Fallujah. Iraqi authorities released him after the Marines withdrew from Iraq, John McKenna III said in an interview.

“It was a terrible waste from Day One,” John McKenna III said of the war. “What did we accomplish there? Our guys did the best they could.”

The McKenna family created the Capt. John McKenna IV Military Courtesy Room at the Albany International Airport in Colonie. Nearly 8,500 service personnel and their families have used its services since it opened in March 2010.